Straw bale buildings have employed a wide range of techniques, construction details and finishes around the world. Not all of these are necessarily suitable or recommended for any Australian or New Zealand conditions.
Specific advice should be sought before embarking on any risky undertakings such as construction of a building.
The professional members listed below may be able to assist you with your project. Listings are in alphabetical order by discipline.
If in doubt, ask!
Architects
stephen schenk
Unicorn Architecture is an award winning Design firm specialising in environmentally sustainable buildings. We are based in Daylesford, Victoria and work with a range of materials and styles to create beautiful and comfortable built environments.
Builders
Builders
Lance Kairl
Products and Services
Consulting
Lance has an extensive knowledge of working with strawbale as a building medium and can provide consulting packages for designers, builders and owners. His consultancy will assist with
- Demystifying the building regulation and approval processes for strawbale
- Preliminary design considerations
- Construction techniques and viable options
- Technical support and instruction during design process
- Inspection of work in progress, written reports and remedial, rectification steps documented
Building
Our partnership G Thomas and L Kairl Builders is able to contract for full construction of your
- New home
- Extension
- Studio
- Feature garden walls
We will consider full contract construction in the Adelaide Hills, southern suburbs, Fluerieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. In some instances full construction in other areas will be seriously considered.
Assisting Owner Builders
Lance and his team can provide support during the whole process of your strawbale building project (see Building Works Supervisor), or just part of it.
Lance can provide a getting started package, (usually his team for 3 days) with occasional ongoing support.
He can provide a quoted cost to supply, install and render strawbale walls and have the owner’s work with him and his team to reduce the cost. The cost of formulating any detailed quote is charged
Alternatively, Lance is able to provide a rough cost estimate and work actively with the owners to install and render the strawbale walls.
Contracting
Lance offers contract wall construction and sub contracting to other builders or owner builders. He can supply and install strawbale walls and render them anywhere in South Australia (also Queensland, other states will be considered).
Some of the projects that he has subcontracted on are
- Houses-including Adelaide, Loxton, Murray Bridge and Aldinga
- Home extensions-Adelaide, Gawler
- Commercial construction-high school eco science building, bio dynamic winery
- Feature garden walls-Goolwa Jekajeri Park, Murray Bridge Fraser Park School
Rendering
Lance has developed a pump for spray rendering. It is designed for use with small aggregate mortars, plaster, mud and other thick viscous materials. It enables render to be applied evenly and quickly to strawbales. Lance offers a spray rendering service for strawbale walls. He and the team spray render 1st and 2nd coats of strawbale walls, patching and shaping render to get the desired shape. Hand rendering for final coat is normal, for some small projects we hand render all 3 coats.
- Lance and his team offer you the choice of
- Rendering all coats
- Spray rendering 1st coat only
- Spray rendering1st and 2nd coats
- Assisting with preparation for final coat rendering and or
- Final coat rendering only
(Some owners assist in the rendering process and we are happy to accommodate this.)
Shamus O'Reilly
At SO'R Construction we are passionate about the sustainable building Industry, with a keen interest in Strawbale buildings. We believe in building healthy homes that work for you. Through the use of solar passive design, our homes require little to no heating or cooling throughout the year, creating a comfortable environment for you and your family year round. We will always favor greener building materials ensuring your new home or renovation is as safe and healthy for you as possible.
We are not your typical Construction company, we work with our clients to provide practical and innovative solutions tailored to their needs. We will listen and advise you, together we can build your dream home. Experienced in many aspects of the building Industry, with highly skilled tradesman you can rest assured your job will be completed to the highest standard every time.
Building Designers
Ian & Tessa Redfern
Ian at Studio Redfern offers an innovative boutique design and mentoring service to our building clients with a focus on natural building materials utilizing passive solar design practices as we design your home.
Natural building encompasses the principals and practices of eco-healthy and sustainable (aka green) building. Passive solar design principles form the basis of all our designs, - even south facing homes can be designed to trap winter solar sun!
Martin Freney
Earthship Eco Homes also runs educational workshops to teach people how to build sustainably, training the next generation of builders, architects and homeowners how these amazing buildings work and how to use eco-construction materials such as strawbale, cob, and the Earthship classics - earth filled car tyres and walls made with recycled glass bottles.
Services include:
- plans, drawings and specifications for Council Approval of your Earthship eco home throughout Australia - we know how to get approval for your Earthship as fast as possible.
- organising and running educational "workshop" events to assist owner-builders and licensed builders with Earthship eco-construction methods. Get your tyre wall built fast and accurate with a group of enthusiastic volunteers.
- tours of Australia's first council approved Earthship (Ironbank, South Australia)
Shamus O'Reilly
At SO'R Construction we are passionate about the sustainable building Industry, with a keen interest in Strawbale buildings. We believe in building healthy homes that work for you. Through the use of solar passive design, our homes require little to no heating or cooling throughout the year, creating a comfortable environment for you and your family year round. We will always favor greener building materials ensuring your new home or renovation is as safe and healthy for you as possible.
We are not your typical Construction company, we work with our clients to provide practical and innovative solutions tailored to their needs. We will listen and advise you, together we can build your dream home. Experienced in many aspects of the building Industry, with highly skilled tradesman you can rest assured your job will be completed to the highest standard every time.
stephen schenk
Unicorn Architecture is an award winning Design firm specialising in environmentally sustainable buildings. We are based in Daylesford, Victoria and work with a range of materials and styles to create beautiful and comfortable built environments.
Educators
Lance Kairl
Products and Services
Consulting
Lance has an extensive knowledge of working with strawbale as a building medium and can provide consulting packages for designers, builders and owners. His consultancy will assist with
- Demystifying the building regulation and approval processes for strawbale
- Preliminary design considerations
- Construction techniques and viable options
- Technical support and instruction during design process
- Inspection of work in progress, written reports and remedial, rectification steps documented
Building
Our partnership G Thomas and L Kairl Builders is able to contract for full construction of your
- New home
- Extension
- Studio
- Feature garden walls
We will consider full contract construction in the Adelaide Hills, southern suburbs, Fluerieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. In some instances full construction in other areas will be seriously considered.
Assisting Owner Builders
Lance and his team can provide support during the whole process of your strawbale building project (see Building Works Supervisor), or just part of it.
Lance can provide a getting started package, (usually his team for 3 days) with occasional ongoing support.
He can provide a quoted cost to supply, install and render strawbale walls and have the owner’s work with him and his team to reduce the cost. The cost of formulating any detailed quote is charged
Alternatively, Lance is able to provide a rough cost estimate and work actively with the owners to install and render the strawbale walls.
Contracting
Lance offers contract wall construction and sub contracting to other builders or owner builders. He can supply and install strawbale walls and render them anywhere in South Australia (also Queensland, other states will be considered).
Some of the projects that he has subcontracted on are
- Houses-including Adelaide, Loxton, Murray Bridge and Aldinga
- Home extensions-Adelaide, Gawler
- Commercial construction-high school eco science building, bio dynamic winery
- Feature garden walls-Goolwa Jekajeri Park, Murray Bridge Fraser Park School
Rendering
Lance has developed a pump for spray rendering. It is designed for use with small aggregate mortars, plaster, mud and other thick viscous materials. It enables render to be applied evenly and quickly to strawbales. Lance offers a spray rendering service for strawbale walls. He and the team spray render 1st and 2nd coats of strawbale walls, patching and shaping render to get the desired shape. Hand rendering for final coat is normal, for some small projects we hand render all 3 coats.
- Lance and his team offer you the choice of
- Rendering all coats
- Spray rendering 1st coat only
- Spray rendering1st and 2nd coats
- Assisting with preparation for final coat rendering and or
- Final coat rendering only
(Some owners assist in the rendering process and we are happy to accommodate this.)
Martin Freney
Earthship Eco Homes also runs educational workshops to teach people how to build sustainably, training the next generation of builders, architects and homeowners how these amazing buildings work and how to use eco-construction materials such as strawbale, cob, and the Earthship classics - earth filled car tyres and walls made with recycled glass bottles.
Services include:
- plans, drawings and specifications for Council Approval of your Earthship eco home throughout Australia - we know how to get approval for your Earthship as fast as possible.
- organising and running educational "workshop" events to assist owner-builders and licensed builders with Earthship eco-construction methods. Get your tyre wall built fast and accurate with a group of enthusiastic volunteers.
- tours of Australia's first council approved Earthship (Ironbank, South Australia)
Suppliers
Lance Kairl
Products and Services
Consulting
Lance has an extensive knowledge of working with strawbale as a building medium and can provide consulting packages for designers, builders and owners. His consultancy will assist with
- Demystifying the building regulation and approval processes for strawbale
- Preliminary design considerations
- Construction techniques and viable options
- Technical support and instruction during design process
- Inspection of work in progress, written reports and remedial, rectification steps documented
Building
Our partnership G Thomas and L Kairl Builders is able to contract for full construction of your
- New home
- Extension
- Studio
- Feature garden walls
We will consider full contract construction in the Adelaide Hills, southern suburbs, Fluerieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. In some instances full construction in other areas will be seriously considered.
Assisting Owner Builders
Lance and his team can provide support during the whole process of your strawbale building project (see Building Works Supervisor), or just part of it.
Lance can provide a getting started package, (usually his team for 3 days) with occasional ongoing support.
He can provide a quoted cost to supply, install and render strawbale walls and have the owner’s work with him and his team to reduce the cost. The cost of formulating any detailed quote is charged
Alternatively, Lance is able to provide a rough cost estimate and work actively with the owners to install and render the strawbale walls.
Contracting
Lance offers contract wall construction and sub contracting to other builders or owner builders. He can supply and install strawbale walls and render them anywhere in South Australia (also Queensland, other states will be considered).
Some of the projects that he has subcontracted on are
- Houses-including Adelaide, Loxton, Murray Bridge and Aldinga
- Home extensions-Adelaide, Gawler
- Commercial construction-high school eco science building, bio dynamic winery
- Feature garden walls-Goolwa Jekajeri Park, Murray Bridge Fraser Park School
Rendering
Lance has developed a pump for spray rendering. It is designed for use with small aggregate mortars, plaster, mud and other thick viscous materials. It enables render to be applied evenly and quickly to strawbales. Lance offers a spray rendering service for strawbale walls. He and the team spray render 1st and 2nd coats of strawbale walls, patching and shaping render to get the desired shape. Hand rendering for final coat is normal, for some small projects we hand render all 3 coats.
- Lance and his team offer you the choice of
- Rendering all coats
- Spray rendering 1st coat only
- Spray rendering1st and 2nd coats
- Assisting with preparation for final coat rendering and or
- Final coat rendering only
(Some owners assist in the rendering process and we are happy to accommodate this.)
stephen schenk
Unicorn Architecture is an award winning Design firm specialising in environmentally sustainable buildings. We are based in Daylesford, Victoria and work with a range of materials and styles to create beautiful and comfortable built environments.